Student nurse stress and perceived faculty support: A triangulation study with foreign-born baccalaureate nursing students

Nursing is a stressful profession, with stress situations starting as early as entry into nursing school. The purpose of this applied dissertation was to describe the essence of stress and perceived faculty support as identified by foreign-born students enrolled in a generic baccalaureate degree nursing program.

Using the triangulation technique at the method level, interpretive phenomenology and the qualitative paradigm was used as the core component, while quantitative data from a larger study examining stress and perception of faculty support with the same cohort of students served as the supplementary component of this mixed methods approach. Data were collected in four phases which included a focus group, individual interviews, focus group follow-up interviews, and triangulation between qualitative responses to quantitative data reported. Data were analyzed using the hermeneutic interpretive analysis process. The overarching theme reflected the student desire to be valued and accepted. Within this overarching theme, the two patterns of stress and strain and cultural ignorance supported the seven themes reflected in the student experience: personal relationships, financial issues, having no life, lack of accommodation, language issues, stereotyping and discrimination, and cultural incompetence. Within each of these themes, there were twenty six subthemes.

Martin Heidegger's theoretical framework received validation through this exploration of stress experiences and perceptions of faculty support. Although experiences varied from individual to individual, these students confirmed that their foreign born status added to their levels of stress, and while faculty recognized their foreign born status, no special accommodations had been made on their behalf.

Implications of the study along with recommendations for nursing education and nursing research are included in this presentation.